Faith and Justice
by Ravoleck
Summary: There had been a time when he didn't call it "Justice".


**RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. I am not associated with them in any professional capacity nor do I make profit off of my writing and publishing this.**

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There had been a time when he didn't call it 'Justice'.

All those times when Adam had fought, it wasn't to kill but to just get the job done. There were very few people with their aura activated, so discretion of force had been necessary. Some of the ways of the old White Fang had stuck with him, no matter what he might claim. Then the old security guard had gotten in our way on that one mission.

It was supposed to be infiltration where no fighting was expected unless something happened. We executed it almost perfectly. Almost. The guard was old, much frailer than most. I remember the way he just stood there, looking at the crumpled body on the ground. He looked so shocked, his mouth open in horror underneath that mask he wore. I never saw what his face looked like while that mask was on, but I can imagine.

He turned to me. He looked so... helpless. It was like it was he was laying in that pool of blood instead.

"It... It was... an accident. I swear. Oh god, Blake..."

I put my hand on his shoulder. I told him I knew.

The next time it happened, it was on an asset denial mission. We had gotten intel that a new set of security systems that would destroy any semblance of privacy that the faunus workers had was being shipped to the Schnee dust mines. We wanted it ourselves to help operations run smoother, but complications occurred which made that impossible, so everything had to be scrapped.

We were fighting against a team of trained guards when I got hurt and Adam... he lost control. He didn't say anything as the last body slumped to the ground. He just stood there silently. We didn't say anything on the way back to camp or for the rest of the day until we went to bed. I remember him slipping the mask off and I could see the confusion and conflict in his eyes.

"It was self-defense."

I put my hand on his shoulder.

Self-defense became his go-to excuse for situations like that, and every time, the pain and conflict in his eyes lessened. Eventually, it stopped being an excuse. It became his justification.

Then that day happened. The day Adam changed completely. He didn't call it an accident, and he didn't call it self-defense. That house filled with Schnee family members and servants couldn't be called anything less than a massacre. When I said that those children shouldn't have died, he snarled like the animal... no... demon he was becoming.

"It was justice! They would have grown up to be exactly like their parents!"

I said nothing. I didn't move to him. My partner was gone, a monster having taken his place. Those weren't bull horns anymore, slowly becoming something more sinister. The trail of blood that he was leaving behind him was beginning to widen, creating a swathe of broken bodies in an ocean of blood.

I said goodbye. I cut the train car coupling.

And then I ended up here. I was so happy here. My partner, my new partner, was so unlike my last one that I was relieved. Maybe I'd finally have a chance to grow up like a normal girl. Well, as normal as a girl training to be a huntress can be, but a normal human girl nonetheless.

But then this whole incident happened. She says that Mercury attacked her, she claims that it was self-defense. He claimed the exact same things too. They both loved to fight, but she never struck to unnecessarily, to kill, harm others.

Not yet, anyway.

"But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did."

"I saw him attack me, so I attacked back."

That earnest look in her eye, that sincerity in her voice, it still sounded much like Adam when he claimed it was an accident. She believed herself, and I would believe her. That whole thing at the docks taught me that I need to have more faith in my teammates, but the reverse is also true.

"Okay. Thank you."

My teammates need to have faith in me. I can't let them down. I need to believe that she's innocent. I have as much responsibility in keeping them out of trouble as they do for me. She needs me to be there for her. I can't fail my partner again. I did it several times, constantly and continuously in our time together, and he turned into a monster. I can't ever let her become like that. I can't ever allow her to start down that road.

I can't ever let her believe that it's 'Justice'.

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 **This is my entry for /r/RWBY's MonCon, a monthly contest between users who produce pieces of work ranging from various forms of fanart to narrative pieces like this one so long as they follow a prompt. This month's was "Yang" and "Justice".**

 **Anybody can win this competition so long as they enter by January 23rd, 2016 in the official entry forum on the subreddit. I encourage everybody to try and participate, though I do ask that if you vote, you only vote for who you think should win.**

 **I tried experimenting in this piece, departing from my usual 3rd person narrative to a more intimate 1st person point of view. I don't think I'm going to edit this one at all past tonight, just so I can see the general reaction it creates. Who knows, I may end up using it again in a future story.**

 **On Fate/Recondite, I am working on the next chapter as soon as this piece goes live. Seriously, the file is open right now and taunting me.**

 **If you have nothing better to do and don't mind the occasional post of idiocy from people you've never met, I am on twitter Ravoleck. I don't tweet often, but when I do, I end up regretting the inevitable grammar error I make in each one.**

 **Do what makes you happy.**


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